2/7/11

Take a break from addressing your Valentines and spend some time with some of the greatest love letters ever written - the scriptures!

The year the eve of Valentine's Day will find us on the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The ancient sage of the Book of Sirach will set before us the most basic of human choices - offering wise advice as profound as it is simple. (Any lectors reading this post? What a rich passage you have to proclaim - let God's people hear these words!)

The day's gospel is a continuation of the "Sermon on the Mount" from which we've the last two weeks. The tone here changes dramatically from the preceding Beatitudes and last week's "salt of the earth and light of the world" vocabulary! Take a look at the text to see the broad sweep of what Jesus preaches here.

(Note that the lectionary offers the proclaimer a longer and shorter form of the gospel. Your local preacher will determine which text will be used.)

Although the second reading, taken from 1 Corinthians, is continuous and not intentionally thematically consonant with the other two scriptures, there is a nice harmony among all three texts this day with Paul offering us a reflection on the wisdom of God.

Those two buttons at the top of the post figure in these scriptures on making choices and decisions with the wisdom of God. Jesus puts it simply: Let your yes be yes and your no be no...

You'll find all three texts and commentary on them here. Will you be bringing children to church with you this weekend? You'll find hints here for helping children prepare to hear the Word of the Lord.

Are you thinking about becoming a Catholic?

The best place to start is always one of your local Catholic churches. Drop in some Sunday and see what's going on. Then you might speak to the pastor or someone on the parish staff about how they can help you and respond to your questions.